(From the wall plaque for the 2009 exhibition) This exhibition is a reaction to the changes that are happening around where some of us live, where the signs of rust – and all that it represents – are being systematically stripped away. It’s about the loss of our sense of place, it’s about being a witness to the redefining (and some would say cleansing) of the Port’s maritime culture and it’s also about the celebration of something that some see no value in. In some ways RUST is a distillation of the frustrations and disappointments that have come about from banging our collective heads against the brick (or tilt up) walls that have been put up in the name of progress. This exhibition is an opportunity for us, as artists, to reinforce the view of the local community that the systematic sterilisation of the Port’s Inner Harbor is wrong. It will hopefully be a counterpoint to what we see happening around us as well as a celebration of what is left of the grit, texture and character of the place where we live. We hope to draw people to the Port not only to see the exhibition but also to see for themselves the changes that have been taking place. One of the artists in this exhibition puts it like this:As an artist with a studio here I have watched quietly and sadly as swathes of our beloved Port Adelaide have been razed to make way for soulless and clinical redevelopment. Through selective isolation the ‘powers that be’ have decided for us what is no longer relevant to the place of Port Adelaide. Demolition has had no regard for context, connection or significance. Structures and buildings, the very fabric of this place have been sacrificed and deemed surplus to needs to make way for a new kind of supermarket generic rendering; impersonal, disconnected and non-relational. It is with sad reflection that we look back on what has been lost, but with a fierce determination to make good the disregard of others. This place is important, it is ours, and here for those of us yet to come.